Mr. Penpa Tsering was born in 1967 at Bylakuppee, south India. He studied at the Central School for Tibetans, Bylakuppe and topped the merit list in Class XII. He graduated with Economics Major from the Madras Christian College, Chennai. His work experience includes running a private export enterprise and a restaurant.
During his student days, he served as the General Secretary of the Tibetan Freedom Movement and Nigerian-Tibet Friendship Association. Later he served as the General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of Do-mey. He then worked as the Executive Director at the Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre (TPPRC) in New Delhi from 2001-2008 before being sworn in as the speaker of the 14th parliament in 2008.
He was earlier elected to the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-exile. He was elected as the Speaker of the fourteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile with Mr. Karma Choephel on 31 May 2006. He got re-elected to the Fifteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile again with Speaker’s post in 2011. From 2016 -2017, he served as the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Office of Tibet, Washington DC. He was elected as the Sikyong in the general election and was formally sworn into office on May 27, 2021, he also held responsibility for several key departments, including Religion and Culture, Home, Finance, and Health (27th May 2021-26th May 2026).